Report: Lance Armstrong offered bribes to competitors to fix races in 1993Posted by SPEEDY on 10/19/12 at 12:29 pm

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quote:Lance Armstrong, the now-disgraced cycling legend, offered bribes to competitors in a series of 1993 races, including one in Philadelphia, in order to win a $1 million bonus, according to allegations in court documents uncovered by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

re: Report: Lance Armstrong offered bribes to competitors to fix races in 1993Posted by trackfan on 10/19/12 at 1:35 pm to SPEEDY

It sounds like there were two teams involved in collusion, as opposed to Armstrong being the only crooked cyclist in this story.

quote:They were offered $50,000 "if we didn't be aggressive and challenge for the rest of the race and obviously for the final race in Philadelphia."

The riders, Swart said, agreed to keep it quiet because such a thing wasn't "ethical . . . in the sporting arena."

Swart emphasized in his testimony, the network said, that Armstrong probably would have won all three races anyway.

"So as far as I was concerned," he said, "I was walking away with a bonus."

Swart said the $50,000 was distributed among members of the Coors team.

In an accompanying sworn affidavit from October 2004, Swart said: "We accepted the offer because we considered it to be a good deal for our team. . . . Of course, our agreement had to remain confidential because the bonus of $1 million was guaranteed by an insurance company, and if our deal had become known, the insurance company would have refused to pay, on the basis that it had been defrauded by the arrangement."

Anderson said the $1 million bonus was eventually split among Armstrong's team members.